Russia's Finance Ministry plans to meet Fitch by end of May

Global ratings agency Fitch is to visit Moscow in late May. Fitch remains the last global firm to decide against slashing Russia’s rating to a non-investment grade, saying it needs a better understanding of what’s happening with the economy.

"By the end of the month,
Fitch will arrive in Russia,"Deputy Finance Minister Sergei
Storchak said Monday, adding that the agency is scheduled to meet
Russia’s Finance Ministry officials. Among the topics to be
discussed are the measures taken by the government to stabilize
the situation in the Russian economy.

Russia's credit rating, according to Fitch, is “BBB-", the lowest
investment-grade level. Two other leading rating agencies,
S&P and Moody’s, now keep Russia on a non-investment grade.

The visit to Moscow comes after Russian Finance Minister Anton
Siluanov held a meeting with Fitch in Washington in April.

Fitch decided not to change Russia’s sovereign rating and
deferred consideration of the issue, deciding to study the
situation in the Russian economy more thoroughly, Siluanov said
after the meeting.

Russian authorities and their Asian partners have been repeatedly
saying that the ratings by a so-called “Big
Three” of Fitch, Moody's and S&P are politicized.

Alternative efforts

A 'sanctions war' with the EU and the US has prompted Russia to
speed up its efforts to diversify away from western dominance in
finance and ratings. BRICS countries are now discussing the
creation of a new independent rating agency and China’s rating
agency Dagong is in talks with Russia on the issue.

There have already been efforts to set up alternative rating
agencies.

For example, Universal Credit Rating (UCRG) was registered in
2012 in Hong Kong on the basis of the Chinese rating agency
Dagong, Egan-Jones of the US, and Russian RusRating to match the
big three - Fitch, Moody's, S&P.

In 2015, the head of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina,
and Dagong officials discussed the launch of UCRG in Russia, said
the CEO of RusRating Alexandr Zaitsev.